bLong Financial LLC Purchases New Position in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

bLong Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,950 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $769,000. Amgen accounts for 0.6% of bLong Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Talbot Financial LLC raised its position in Amgen by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,274 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its position in Amgen by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,592,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $513,033,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC raised its position in Amgen by 9.0% during the third quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 6.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $204,659,000 after buying an additional 35,785 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 3.2% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 60,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $19,581,000 after buying an additional 1,872 shares during the period. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Amgen

In other Amgen news, EVP Murdo Gordon sold 8,771 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.79, for a total transaction of $2,585,603.09. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,025,590.94. The trade was a 16.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Jonathan P. Graham sold 25,045 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.12, for a total value of $7,341,190.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,496,669.44. This represents a 46.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,405 shares of company stock valued at $10,410,596 in the last quarter. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amgen Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $291.16 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $156.51 billion, a PE ratio of 38.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $274.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $301.85. Amgen Inc. has a 12-month low of $253.30 and a 12-month high of $346.85.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The medical research company reported $5.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by $0.27. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. As a group, analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $2.38 dividend. This is a boost from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 119.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMGN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on Amgen from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $324.00 price target on shares of Amgen in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Leerink Partners reduced their price target on Amgen from $349.00 to $302.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Amgen from $335.00 to $326.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Amgen presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.09.

About Amgen

Amgen Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide. The company's principal products include Enbrel to treat plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis; Otezla for the treatment of adult patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers associated with Behçet's disease; Prolia to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; XGEVA for skeletal-related events prevention; Repatha, which reduces the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization; Nplate for the treatment of patients with immune thrombocytopenia; KYPROLIS to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; Aranesp to treat a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells and anemia; EVENITY for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal for men and women; Vectibix to treat patients with wild-type RAS metastatic colorectal cancer; BLINCYTO for the treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia; TEPEZZA to treat thyroid eye disease; and KRYSTEXXA for the treatment of chronic refractory gout.